Another electric car almost out of power.

[Chris142]

This is becoming a regular occurrence on our local FB pages. Car is 1/2 way up Cajon pass.

It's about 20 miles down to a slow charger and about 12 miles up to Walmart where there is a charger but they have to get up the 6% grade 3 or so miles of cajon pass to get there.

I don't know what brand the car is.

 

[ctechbob]

Would be useful to have a Powerboost F150 in this situation. Drive up and kick 7.2kw at them for a while and charge for the service.

Hrm....too bad I don't live where stuff like that is needed. I'd do it on a weekend for extra cash,.

 

[Pablo]

This is becoming a regular occurrence on our local FB pages. Car is 1/2 way up Cajon pass.

It's about 20 miles down to a slow charger and about 12 miles up to Walmart where there is a charger but they have to get up the 6% grade 3 or so miles of cajon pass to get there.

I don't know what brand the car is.

View attachment 285217

Same people who run out of gas

 

[Chris142]

Same people who run out of gas

Funny you mentioned that because they are at a gas station with no chargers around.

 

[Astro14]

Funny you mentioned that because they are at a gas station with no chargers around.

I would think a smart station owner would capitalize on the opportunity that keeps presenting itself…

 

[Hohn]

Same people who run out of gas

Yup. Reminds me of George Carlin’s observation that if you run out of fuel in a vehicle with a functional gas gauge, you might be the dumbest person on the road. Or something to that effect.

 

[goblin]

Funny you mentioned that because they are at a gas station with no chargers around.

I wonder if being at a charging station with no gas pumps around would be as news-worthy.

Then again, driving up to the fast charger, and coast down to the slow charger if I don't make it to the fast one, sounds like not too much of a brainer to me. Is their regen braking off as well ?

 

[DemoFly]

I've now seen several electric cars get charged up by truck mounted generators. Probably charges at a rate of ~30mph.

 

[Bailes1992]

One thing I've learned since I've had my EV is that unless you change your driving style significantly, the range is always spot on. I left Swindon last night with 104 miles of range, and when I got back to Bridgend travelling 88 miles my range was on 18 miles.

When you have this level of range accuracy then it's easy to plan ahead.

 

[OilUzer]

Don't these batteries get weaker and weaker slowly and not hold the charge as good as new?

 

[ctechbob]

Don't these batteries get weaker and weaker slowly and not hold the charge as good as new?

Over time, yes, but manufs usually limit how much of the total installed capacity you can use, so that it is more or less the same over a longer period of time.

Similar to what SSD manufacturers do, there's extra space on an SSD hard drive to be used in case of bad sectors etc, similar thing to most EV batteries. They might have a 300kw battery installed, but advertised as a 280kw one, so over time they're able to output that same 280kw.

 

[RedSpider]

There must be a lot of broken gas gauges in cars recently, I've seen three people walking down the interstate with gas cans in their hands this week alone, one in LA, two in Cincinnati. Its not like electric car owners have a monopoly on not paying attention to their gauges.

 

[berniedd]

This remind

Yup. Reminds me of George Carlin’s observation that if you run out of fuel in a vehicle with a functional gas gauge, you might be the dumbest person on the road. Or something to that effect.

This reminds me of the time (many many years ago) I was filling up at a gas station on a VERY busy wide street and a guy comes up asking the attendant if they had empty containers he could use to get gas for his vehicle that ran out of gas. He gave him 2 empty gallons of oil. Much afterwards, the attendant remarks to me that they get 3 or 4 such situations PER DAY.

 

[demarpaint]

Oops, it happens, although in most cases it's a lot easier to get a couple of gallons of gas and be on your way.

 

[RooflessVW]

"down" with regen braking is a no-brainer to me.

 

[Hohn]

This remind

This reminds me of the time (many many years ago) I was filling up at a gas station on a VERY busy wide street and a guy comes up asking the attendant if they had empty containers he could use to get gas for his vehicle that ran out of gas. He gave him 2 empty gallons of oil. Much afterwards, the attendant remarks to me that they get 3 or 4 such situations PER DAY.

I think what most puzzles me about the phenomenon is that it saves NO MONEY to run around with your tank flirting with empty. It costs the same to keep a full tank as an empty tank, the difference in MPG is miniscule and too small to measure.

So what is the appeal of keeping the tank so low? I say this a a compulsive topper-off who almost never runs the tank below half.

 

[cptbarkey]

"You gotta pay if you want to play."

 

[berniedd]

I think what most puzzles me about the phenomenon is that it saves NO MONEY to run around with your tank flirting with empty. It costs the same to keep a full tank as an empty tank, the difference in MPG is miniscule and too small to measure.

So what is the appeal of keeping the tank so low? I say this a a compulsive topper-off who almost never runs the tank below half.

Maybe their gas gauges are faulty - showing it's still got gas when it's near empty. Like a new driver on a vehicle he's not the regular driver and he doesn't know the gauge is off. Or maybe they didn't even look at the gauge, people are strange. Here's one for ya - back then my dad owned a small driving school. One day a training vehicle quits working. Wadda you know, the DRIVING INSTRUCTOR ran the gas tank dry! SMH!

 

[goblin]

Most likely they are cherry picking stations - too expensive, wrong brand, etc, and skip to the next one till it bites them back.

 

[IndyIan]

Most likely they are cherry picking stations - too expensive, wrong brand, etc, and skip to the next one till it bites them back.

Yes, I'm a bit prone to that, stretching out a tank to save $4-5... Haven't ran out yet from that though! I guess it adds up to couple hundred a year.
A stuck gauge in the Neon got me once, but a few litres of gas from the house I stopped in front of, got me going in a couple minutes, and they wouldn't take any money either!